mr. durbin: madam president. the president pro tempore: the senator from illinois is recognized. mr. durbin: madam president, i have a few statements i would like to make this morning but i would like to respond to the republican leader's statement that he just completed. i'm not naive when it comes to iran. i know what's happening there from press reports. their treatment of women is abominable. there's no excuse for it and the protests in the streets of tehran and all across this country really is an expression of human dignity which the united states -- at least as i as a senator in the united states supports publicly. secondly, there are no excuses for the assistance iran is giving to vladimir putin and his ruthless attack on the people of ukraine. i won't make excuses for that or any other terrorist conduct by iran, but for the record, for the record, it was president obama who moved forward with the notion that we ought to stop iran from developing nuclear weapons. they're guilty of bad conduct in many quarters but we didn't want them to have a nuclear weapon. we didn't think it

mr durbin, miss ernst mrs. feinstein senator feinstein's recovery has caused her to miss about a dozen votes and several committee meetings. if this had happened a year ago, it would have been pretty significant because we have to split. senate and every vote counts. christine troughs, executive director of uc berkeley's institute of governmental studies, says this session. however democrats have a little more leeway, having picked up an extra seat, giving them a 51 to 49 majority plus vice president kamala harris has been able to act as a tiebreaker during some of this week's close votes. the a's are 48. the nays are 48, the senate being equally divided. the vice president votes in the affirmative, and the nomination is confirmed, trow says. if senator feinstein's recovery drags on, it could lead to some tight votes on contentious issues. the looming debt ceiling prices coming up that's going to be a very important vote. true says in the short term, while senator feinstein recovers, she does have a seasoned st

mr. durbin , let's start with the introduction, containment of inflation along with the growth of production at the beginning for the introduction of the section regarding inflation itself and the damage it causes in the economic field, please let the viewers know, and now, how can this inflation be curbed, so that we can have mutual longitudinal growth in that country . except that it is aligned in economics and classical economics in the traditional way, except that you curb inflation and create recession, the economy as an economic concept is an example of the question of conventional economics that inflation is due to the intensity of demand. there is a coordinate position between inflation control and production growth now, the iran deal is a situation in which we can't push inflation to the demand side, that is, there is inflation, and the center of the two -year average is 15 to 20 percent. in the last few years, we have experienced these inflations many times in the past year. these issues , ironically, disrupt the production. it is not that i am saying that because of the intensity

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, when i took the chair as gavel of the senate judiciary committee, one of my first goals and objectives was to restore the committee's oversight role. since the beginning of the 117th congress, we've kept close watch on those agencies in the executive branch, which are within our jurisdiction. we've held oversight hearings on the justice department, fbi, and the federal bureau of prisons, to mention a few. this last tuesday we continued that tradition with a second oversight hearing on the department of homeland security. it's worth noting that under the previous administration, the previous president, the homeland security secretary only appeared before our committee one time in four years. so we're glad to welcome secretary mayorkas back to the hearing room and learn about the work he is undertaking to keep america safe. as i mentioned on tuesday, i think secretary

mr durbin, miss ernst mrs. feinstein senator feinstein's recovery has caused her to miss about a dozen votes and several committee meetings. if this had happened a year ago, it would have been pretty significant because we have to split. senate and every vote counts. christine trust, executive director of uc berkeley's institute of governmental studies, says this session. however democrats have a little more leeway, having picked up an extra seat, giving them a 51 to 49 majority plus vice president kamala harris has been able to act as a tiebreaker during some of this week's close votes. the a's are 48. the nays are 48, the senate being equally divided. the vice president votes in the affirmative, and the nomination is confirmed, trow says. if senator feinstein's recovery drags on, it could lead to some tight votes on contentious issues. the looming debt ceiling crisis coming up that's going to be a very important vote. jana katsuyama ktvu fox two news at noon, updating efforts by pgd to restore power to custom

mr. durbin: madam president, yesterday was an interesting day for me personally, but it was an interesting day more importantly in the history of the united states when it comes to the equal rights amendment. the equal rights amendment was first introduced in 1923, 100 years ago -- 100 years ago, and proposed by a leader named dr. alice paul. at the time she had just won an important victory. she and her fellow suffrages led successfully the campaign to give women the right to vote in the united states. despite this monumental achievement, dr. paul recognized that just the right to vote was not enough for gender equality, but it was the right starting point. so she devoted the remaining years of her life to enshrining gender equality in every facet of american life, and particularly in the constitution with the equal rights amendment. sadly dr. paul and her fellow suffrages passed away long before they could see the era become the law of the land. in a new ren ration of activists who are propelling the movement of equality forward. now the personal side of this relates to to the fact when

durbin: are they the biggest? mr. berchtold: no, sir. they are generally, the biggest tend to be the sports venues, the owners of the sports teams. sen. durbin: you had an experience at barclays, did you not in terms of an opportunity for your company to take over a venue that had been controlled by ticketmaster. how did that work? >> the new york times reported a few weeks ago how once we took over ticketing for the berkeley center in brooklyn the berkeley center saw a market decrease in the number of concerts from live nation sent to that venue versus historical averages. so, earlier, last year, the barclays center management came to us and said we would like to keep using you for ticketing our basketball but we want to be able to use ticketmaster to ticket concerts. we look into it and could not get the economics to work, so we said to them, listen, let's part ways amicably and we did. sen. durbin: so, they used their power of the marketplace to diminish the number of acts? at that venue and the venue decided they had to go back to tic

mr. durbin, mr. fine gold, mrs. feinstein -- >> was there an uproar when this happened?headline. in fact, i don't think most congressman even knew that it happened until probably weeks, months, or even years afterwards. >> a bill i will sign in a few moments will enhanced the economic strength of america. >> they did this massive change to the economy that would have effect all these people and no one noticed? >> it was very sneaky what they did. it was two lines slipped in in conference committee under the dark of night. >> there it is, the two lines of legal mumble jumble that would alter the economy for multiple generations. almost entirely -- >> taking the bankruptcy code says if it represents an undue hardship, you can get a discharge. >> undue hardship? that shouldn't be too hard to prove. >> the courts have interpreted that saying that means there is no hope of repaying. >> what do you mean the supposed to be no hope? >> they have to have such a condition that you would never want to have to get the student loan discharged. >> what do you mean? what kind of condit

mr. durbin: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, the eveptses this week in nashville, tennessee are still verb -- events this week in nashville, tennessee, are still fresh in our minds. the fact that a shooter went on the campus of a christian school, a school for children, little children, this person who went on that campus blasted her way into the building and then took the lives of three 9-year-old children and three adults who were principal and teachers in the school. it is heartbreaking to think that we are reliving this scene over and over again where our children who are sent by their loving parents off to school, lunches in hand, never came home. never came home. we don't know all the details yet of the shooter or the weaponry which she owned at the time or used in the event. but we do know that there were weapons that were very familiar with. one of course is the ar-15, the military assault-style weapon that has sadly become so popular in america. this morning's "washington post" had an editorial which touched

mr. durbin: mr. president. mr. president, it seems a little unusual to follow senator schumer, because usually senator mcconnell is next, and we certainly understand why he's not here today. he's in recovery from a fall that he experienced last week. we wish him the very best and hope he's back very soon. mr. president, there's an old saying that there are a lot of -- that there aren't a lot of atheists in foxholes. in my experience, there aren't a lot of unyielding, uncompromising, fiscally conservative, so-called budget hawks when a disaster hits. it gets personal. when tornadoes rip across your state or hurricanes devastate your community, when a cold snap takes down the electric grid in your state, or blazing heat sets off raging wildfires, when a freight train hauling toxic chemicals derails and explodes into a raging fireball, you don't find a platoon of ayn rand quoting ideologues that really come to the scene and want to be heard. people want to see fema and other government agencies on the scene helping as

mr. secretary. chair durbin: senator booker. senator booker: thank you, mr. chairman. the crisis of fentanyl has been discussed a lot. i want to echo what my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have said and what you have said. this is an american crisis. it shouldn't divide us against each other. we need to find where the common cause and common urgency is and attack those areas. we should be guided by the facts and the evidence and not the typical political forces that divide us, that make it difficult to solve problems. we will not agree on everything. but the facts are the facts. this problem did not start under joe biden. in fact, mr. secretary, during the years of the trump administration, fentanyl deaths rose in america, correct? secretary mayorkas: yes, they did. senator booker: that's all i need. this problem has risen under republican presidents and democratic presidents. this is not a partisan issue. this is an american issue. this is an american crisis. and more facts that i think are worthy of repeating and saying clearly is that this is an issue that's

mr. berchtold. >> chair durbin, ranking member graham, senators klobuchar and lee, and other members of the committee, i'm joe berchtold. president and chief financial officer of live nation entertainment. i thank you for the invitation to appear today to address these important issues in the live entertainment issue in history so we can continue to make things better. from us 20 years live nation has operated in the united states and around the world with an artist first business model that is focused on helping put artists onstage and connect them with their fans. we believe that the artist ran connection is the foundation of the live entertainment industry, the source of all, nearly all commercial value and the number one thing that public also should protect. over this period, we have helped the industry grow rapidly. in 2022, live music was a 12 billion dollar industry in the united states. four times what it was in 2005. to fuel this growth, live nation has invested billions of dollars, funding artist globally. nine billion dollars in 2022 alone. given our level of investment in artis

mr. >> german durbin, ranking member graham distinguished members, thank you for the oortunity test testifyefore you today i've spent my career in the service. nearly three decades is been my honor to serve in law enforcement working my w up to detective sgt. managed the upper ranks of the california part of justice. ne on i serve as a senior technical adviso. [inaudible] lifornia it was a very different place and the police force in 1990 the national lice department responded to shootings everyight. everyone in the streets had a gun by 1993 california had a homicide rate tha was 46% higherhan the national av average. our streets were awash with guns and victims everyda my colleagues and i and hope for the best. most every cop has a moment when gun violence really hits home. for me as 1992 when held a 16-year-old b and watch the life drain from his eyes. he got into a fight over a girl. a fight that happens every day and o country. sometimes hundreds of times. except during this fight one of the kids had a gun. what should have been with a bruised ego and may be a black eye. he asked if he

mr. chair man. >> thank you, senator blackburn. i want to thank the chair durbin and ranking member graham for holding this hearing. there is no denying that we have a gun violence epidemic in the united states of america. when gun violence becomes the leading cause of death in america i know it becomes a household name because across the country because of a tragedy we have a moral obligation to act. just yesterday i joined president biden in monterey park california to meet with of the community that is still grieving from a mass shooting that took the lives of 11 people and a dance studio on the eve of the lunar new year. i was pleased to see the executive action that will make our community safer and will save lives. but i think we all acknowledged including the president that the executive actions have addressed gun violence do not absolve us of our duty as legislators. last congress the committee held 11 hearings on common sense steps to reduce gun violence and we know the overwhelming public support that these measures have. but as we gather here today, aft

durbin: at this point we will go to senator ossoff. sen. ossoff: thank you, mr. chairman. attorney general, good morning. last year with senator grassley, i passed into law bipartisan legislation that requires the doj and the bureau of prisons to upgrade security systems at dop facilities across the country. this includes the close circuit camera systems, intercoms systems. through extensive investigation of failures at the dop, we have identified the inadequacies of these security systems as posing a threat not just to inmates and staff, but to the broader community. this implicates public safety and indeed we found that at a u.s. penitentiary in atlanta, failures like this one allowed widespread criminal conduct within the facility, escapes from the facility within the entire region at risk. our bill is no law and -- is now law and the department has a deadline next month to present a plan to congress for upgrades to strengthen the security systems at federal prisons. my first question is whether due department is on track to meet the deadline. a.g. garland: i am gratefu

turnedurbn to the chairman of the the judiciary committee, dick durbin, the very partisan democrat fro patm illinois. helm and he said , mr. chairman,d will you help me?i and i've spentsp 11 yearsvery s on judiciary with durbin. he's very smart.ma very he's very partisan.pa he loves to fight with me. and v he and i have gone 15 rounds more times than i can count.ng years it's the only time in 11 yearsdn i've seen durbin decline an invitation. he just sat back and kind ofhe h ot bacshrugged. too and i got to say, i took that. shawn, as senate democrats realizing, oh, we're at a badspt spot on this. thisn th disaster at the southen border and we're leaving. and basically, hing, basic he wd america, you're on your own. read and i think they are getting ready to throw him overboard,y o fire him and then try to blame everything on him.e ev erything onow, they don't intend anything to change anything. well, but they want hit they wmn the one who takes the blame inrr order to insulate biden and kamala harris and all the senate democrats. >> that giggling vicet been t president borders has not been too effective and they haven't

mr. secretary, thank you madam chair. >> thank you, senator. senator durbin? >> thank you very much madam chair, mr. secretary it's good to see you. you and i have had several discussions about snap benefits for people who are gathering together we are appropriate under the law. i asked one of your staff leaders and she said despite the fact of the agency had paid out the snap benefits for 20 years, it was the result of a mistake. they're now trying to resolve this so the elderly people in my state, some 8000 of them are not denied basic food benefits. i hope you will continue to work with their's and try to find a solution to this problem. >> yes, sir. >> thank you. >> mr. secretary, you and i know midwestern farmers better than most. thanks. very basic question, the groups that came in such part do you believe human has any impact on our climate? and to be honest you for several years none hang in. there was some skepticism about that promise. i think things are coming around and i hope they are. but it wanted to ask you the policies and the department of agr

mr. mangual. to make good mourning chairman durbin ranking member graham and others would like to begin by thanking you for extending an invitation to testify for this body and was perhaps the most important policy issue of our time, public safety is this the gun violence. you're over urging point is straightforward straightforward. i comes the important issue public safety or most pressing problem is not the possibly that more law-abiding citizens will be able to carry firearms. it's that in so many across the country legislative and the straightest of policy choices have exacerbated threats associated to the own tourist prosecute and incapacitate high-risk criminal offenders. as such the focus of policymakers hoping to stem the kreider violent crime should be plugging the holes by the cars ration efforts. failing to do so will unveil a tragedy as it has in so many people already piquant those cases the shooting death of kiara hudson in upstate necklace to be the 40 of mother was at school and police and prosecutors allege she was shot in the head by her husband. herd husband was released on his o

durbin. >> thank you madam chair. mr. secretary, it's good to see you. you and i have had several discussions about snap benefits for people who were gathering together and whether or not they are appropriate under the law. i asked one of your staff she said despite the fact the agency had paid out these benefits for 20 years it was the result of a mistake. we are now. trying to resolve this so these people in my state, 8,000 of them are not denied basic food benefits and i hope that you will continue to work with us to try to find a solution to this problem. >> so mr. sec., we know the other thing we need solid proof before they are convinced. i started asking about a very basic question in the groups that came, the union and such. do you believe that human activity has any impact on our climate and environment? there was some skepticism about the premise. i think things are coming around and i hope they are. but i want to ask you the policies are not the department of agriculture and proposals in the farmville when it comes to two or three basic things

mr. attorney general, i'll just say to you this is a disgrace. >> senator coons? >> thank you, chairman durbin. thank you attorney general garland. for your leadership in the department, for testifying here today, i appreciate all you are doing to restore to order, to restore to your office, a credible role in our constitution. violent crime is a concern, and many members of both parties have raised that today on this oversight hearing. i want to share with you that that my hometown of wilmington, delaware, we had a long-standing challenge a violent crime and particularly murders, saw significant decreases over the last few years. murders were down 58%. in the past year. to a 15-year low. shootings were down 30%. robberies were down 20%. and a meeting with the mayor and chief of police, recently when i spoke with them they credited federal and local law enforcement partnerships including in particular group violence intervention strategies, as being central to their successful efforts. congress and the biden ministration of together given 240 billion dollars to fund these programs for the firs

to thank chairman durbin and ranking member graham for hosting this, senator blackman has stepped out, -- senator blackburn has stepped out. christ thank you to each of you and you mr. chairman. we are here for everyone on the panel, and you can just to me a thumbs up. i am making the action that you all support the kids online safety act. ok, the record will reflect you are all for it. and we appreciate that. we appreciate that it is necessary. thank you for your testimony, and also for your advocacy. we appreciate this. i want to come to you ms. gillibrand -- ms. delaun. the child expedition asked that i have filed last time, we have this back up again. this is something that we have done because what we realize is the necessity for child exploitation to be reported to the cyberattack line. and the bill you know matt -- unanimously passed to we are hopeful to get it finished. it may just about 30 seconds. >> thank you senator and think for the -- thank you for the leadership. one of the most important components is extension of retention. when they make reports of tech companies, from the moment that they make reports, there is a 90 day retention notice. the comp

mr. attorney general, i'll just say to you this is a disgrace. >> senator coons? >> thank you, chairman durbin thank you attorney general garland. for your leadership in the department, for testifying here today, i appreciate all you are doing to restore to order, to restore to your office, a credible role in our constitution. violent crime is a concern, and many members of both parties have raised that today on this oversight hearing. i want to share with you that that my hometown of wilmington, delaware, we had a long-standing challenge a violent crime and particularly murders, saw significant decreases over the last few years. murders were down 58%. in the past year. to a 15-year low. shootings were down 30%. robberies were down 20%. and a meeting with the mayor and chief of police, recently when i spoke with them they credited federal and local law enforcement partnerships including in particular group violence intervention strategies, as being central to their successful efforts. congress and the biden ministration of together given 240 billion dollars to fund these programs for the first

mr. durbin: madam president, when the constitution was written, there were some fundamental principles included, one of them said that any declaration of war in the united states had to have the approval of the american people through their elected representatives in the congress. it was an awesome responsibility, an important one. i think it was the right responsibility given to the people through their elected representatives. after world war ii there were several engagements by the american military without such declaration of war. those were, of course, controversial and debated. but i'm sure you recall, and i do too, october of the year 2002, when this senate was called on with the house of representatives to consider the invasion of iraq and the authorization of use of military force for that purpose. we may have forgotten by now, 20 years later, but i remember very vividly the fearsome national debate over whether this nation, having been hit on 9/11, needed to invade iraq. the rationale was weapons of mass destruction were present in iraq, threatening not only nations in the middle east

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. : are we in a quorum call? prferl we are dissh i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: last week the biden administration announced it was opposing magnitsky related law sanctions on several putin thugs involved in the jailing of vladimir car murza. this is the move along with senator shaheen, rubio, tillis had urged. he is an incredible russian patriot who despite being poisoned twice by the kremlin returned to russia last year to continue the peaceful struggle for a more democratic nation and an end to the disastrous war in ukraine. i'll never forget that he came to talk to me just before he returned to russia and reflected on his determination and optimism for a better future for russia. tragically he was arrested shortly after arriving in moscow on the laughable charge of criticizing mr. putin's war. so many russians who were courageously pursuing a better future for their country deserve our support and they deserve to be r

mr. durbin: i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the president pro tempore: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: it comes to the actions of government, it's often legislation that grabs the headlines but it is equally important to be aware of presidential regulatory power. presidents have a tremendous amount of power to affect our economy through regulation. president biden has made aggressive use of regulatory four push his agenda and to burden our economy in the process. president biden's big spending habits are well-known. the $1.9 trillion american rescue plan spending spree that he signed into lurks the trillions of dollars in new government spending that he's proposed and pushed for over the course of his administration, but his carelessness with taxpayer dollars is not limited to legislative initiatives. president biden has

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. durbin: thank you, mr. president. yesterday, i joined leader schumer, senators baldwin, blumenthal, and murray and a number of my colleagues in introducing a piece of legislation that is urgently needed. it's entitled the women's health protect action of 2023. this bill would protect the right to obtain and provide reproductive health care, as basic as anything in america. as well as the freedom of americans to seek this care free of medically unnecessary restrictions or limitations as to where a patient can receive it. it's been about nine months since the thomas-alito court ripped away this fundamental right in america and put a target on the backs of women and health care providers across the country. since then we've heard one horror story after another, stories of rape victims as young as 10 years old who've been forced to travel across state lines to receive critical health care. stories of women who are suff

mr. durbin: reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: madam president, last year as chairman of the senate judiciary committee, i convened a bipartisan hearing on carjacking. it was the first ever judiciary committee hearing on the subject. we heard from experts in law enforcement and the automobile industry, and since then i've been working with senator chuck grassley, republican from iowa, on a bill that we're going to introduce soon on the subject. the senator from arkansas is a member of the judiciary committee. he did not attend our hearing, and he's never raised this issue with me. in fact, he introduced the bill we're considering at this moment yesterday. why now? well, he's very open in what he said on the floor and what he said in his press release. later this afternoon there will be a vote on the d.c. criminal code. one of the issues is carjacking. he's trying to hitch a ride on this train in terms of the discussion of the penalties for crime. it's no coincidence, senator cotton has brought this bill to the floor because

mr. mangual. >> good morning, chairman durbin, ranking member graham and members of the committee. i would like to begin by thanking you all four extends to meet another invitation to testify before this body in what is perhaps the single most important policy issues of our time, public safety especially gun violence. my overarching point this morning is straightforward. when it comes to important issue a public safety our most pressing problem is not the possibility that more law-abiding citizens will now be able to carry firearms for self-defense and a small handful of states it can only allow them to do so prior to bruen. it's that is only parts of the country legislative and administrative policy choices have exacerbated the risks associated with failing to arrest, prosecute a meaningful incapacitate i risks, high rate criminal offenders. the focus of policymakers hoping to stem the tide of research in violent crime should be on identifying and plugging the holes created on a larger by recent decreasing and incarceration efforts. failing to do so will lead to tragedy as it has